<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf8" /> <title>1979: Andy's report for BCRA Caves & Caving</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/css/main2.css" /> </head> <body> <center><font size=-1>CTS 80.1741: BCRA Caves & Caving 8 (May 1980) p 30 [ISSN 0142-1832]</font> <h2>Cambridge University Caving Club - Austria 1979</h2></center> <p>In August 1979 eight members of the club returned to the Loser Plateau, Totes Gebirge in Austria to continue the exploration of Eislufthöhle, which we were forced to abandon due to a car accident after reaching about -350m in 1978. <p>Just inside the entrance our problems restarted in the 80m Plugged shaft where the ice and snow had completely re-organised itslelf again, necessitating time-consuming rebolting. After this, the next pitches of 13, 19, 14, 12, 30, 11, 48m were rigged in one trip. The next trip rigged two short pitches and then explored a new route from the -280m level. This rejoined the stream canyon found last year after easy pitches of 17m and 9m landing in a small chamber seen from below in 1978. Much muddy traversing and a very muddy sloping 26m pitch led to our 1978 terminus (now determined to be at -331m) and here two ways on were possible; straight down sounded wet, so a further muddy traverse was followed to a 20m pitch descending the far side of a rock wall into a dry chamber. This was clean and a further climb of 5m led to an awkward meander descending to the head of a rather sharp 23m pitch at the base of which an increasingly tight and nasty rift led on. After an extrememly tight section, a window onto a pitch was reached; this seemed to be about 20m to a boulder floor and rose above in a high aven. This pitch was never descended as the narrow rift was smaller than expected for the main way on. <p>Straight on down from 1978's terminus proved larger than had been expected from above, dropping into a huge cross rift with a remarkable pinnacle on the far side. The pitch was 28m to a ledge, then 33m in a smaller, damper shaft. Below this, a climb escaped the water and a traverse led to a dry shaft, with the stream still audible. Twenty four metres later, a small ledge formed a useful place to rebelay the rope, now showing signs of rubbing above and the rope ran out 19m later. A sharp climb of 5m led to another ledge and the awkward takeoff for a 24m pitch rejoining the water part way down. The rope was too short for the next pitch but from the end, the pitch clearly landed on a flat floor in a huge rift passage at around -500m. Hopes were very high for a major continuation but four days of rain caused to abandon our only attempt to continue and we were running out of time. <p>A massive pushing, surveying, derigging trip was our last chance and the new pitch was bottomed at 17m but the huge passage led on to a muddy boulder climb and a pitch down to the inevitable but impressive sump at -506m approx. With mixed feelings of elation and disappointment we took photgraphs and then derigged to -210m, emerging shattered after 16 hours. The pot was fully derigged two days later and the plateau cleared of gear for our return. <p>There are still several loose ends, most notably the undescended pitch beyond the tight rift at about -390m and another undescended pitch at -140m. Also, a totally untouched wet shaft at -150m and a couple of upstream continuations. After three years of learning about continental caving, all spent in the same pot, however, C.U.C.C. is moving on to new areas, leaving 80% of the plateau still untouched. Full details of our earlier explorations are in "Cambridge Underground" <a href="../1976/report.htm">1977</a>, <a href="../1977/report.htm">1978</a>, and <a href="../1978/report.htm">1979</a>. A complete description of Eislufthohle will appear with our <a href="report.htm">1979 report</a> in "Cambridge Underground, Journal of C.U.C.C. and exC.S." for 1980, to be published in late spring when large surveys should also be available. <p align=right>A.E.R.Waddington <hr /> <!-- LINKS --> <ul id="links"> <li>1979 Expedition info: <ul> <li><a href="log.htm">Logbook</a></li> <li><a href="report.htm">Expo report, Cambridge Underground 1980</a></li> <li>Eislufthöhle - <a href="descnt.htm">from Descent 44</a></li> <li>Nick Thorne's write-up in <a href="792026.htm">Belfry Bulletin 378</a></li> <li>Odkrycie i eksploracja Eislufthöhle - <a href="811412.htm">original english article</a> (published in Polish in 1980)</li> </ul></li> <li><a href="../../pubs.htm#pubs1979">Index</a> to all publications</li> <li><a href="../../index.htm">Back to Expeditions intro page</a></li> <li><a href="../../../index.htm">CUCC Home Page</a></li> </ul> </body> </html>